Posts Tagged ‘Kuunpalvelus’

Atvar (AKA Rauta) is a seriously-talented individual. He’s the driving force behind a number of wonderful Black Metal acts, each with their own unique sound. He must possess a truly great mind to consistently deliver on all of these projects over and over again.

Venus Star ‎is one of many where he’s the sole member and ‘The Knot Will Not’ is this entity’s fourth – and best – full-length, released once more on Kuunpalvelus, his own label. Massive kudos to the magnificent, supremely-talented Finn, particularly for the inspirational closer, ‘Ride Forth, Beast Torch, Beyond the Beyond’.

Even by Black Metal standards, Kêres is anomalous and difficult to fathom. Great music but for whatever reason he’s reluctant to share it with the masses. I can understand the logic behind it from the perspective that clearly all people are cunts so why bother giving them any pleasure, but the counter argument is why the fuck not press more copies just for the hell of it?

I didn’t bother reviewing ‘Battle Secrets’ for the reason that there is no point really and the same applies to ‘Book Of Desire’, which is so limited that it sold out within hours. So this isn’t available anymore and that’s a shame because it’s fantastic. Interesting lyrics full of riddles, excellent music performed with passion and pathos and definitely an album that could shift at least 500 units on vinyl. Which just ain’t going to happen, alas.

I suppose ultimately you can only admire the refusal to follow convention and perceived norms. Or to cash in on his talents… Why? Why not?

At last, a Kêres release that is widely available. I have no idea why some Black Metal hordes deliberately make their material as difficult to get as they possibly can (only 100 copies were pressed of debut full-length ‘Eternal Wake’) but logic (if any remains) would dictate that such a band also doesn’t want to have its material reviewed, so I won’t bother.

It’s difficult to know where to start in order to best convey the innate magnificence of Cosmic Church’s second full-length. So I’ll begin with the artwork. The unorthodox cover is a visual treat, replete with blinding white, northern snow, in which supplicates a lone, kneeling figure I pressume to be Luxixul Sumering Auter himself, clad in a deep-red cloak. Beautiful imagery at play, which to my mind symbolises a drop of blood in the barren icy wilderness. Or something.

The classy double-vinyl edition comes in a gorgeous gatefold jacket and includes a 16-page 7” booklet with lyrics printed in both Finnish and English. So, clearly, all the stops have been pulled out to give the listener an item he / she can cherish – a quality product that does justice to the music.

Awesome dark art forms abound on ‘Ylistys’. Even though there are some clean vocals on here that I don’t much like, this album comes highly, highly recommended. Especially on vinyl; the best way to drink up the eye-catching and luscious cover art, which boldly eschews the standard black(s) and succeeds where many others have failed.

Collating all twelve offerings from Cosmic Church’s 2009 trilogy of ‘Arcana Dei’ EPs, this double album resides somewhere between collectible and curio. It’s a great way of catching up with the Arcana Dei series, which was originally available on cassette only courtesy of Cocainacopia, but at the same time ‘Arcana Dei I-III’ doesn’t really feel like a proper album. (Perfectly understandable, seeing as it isn’t!)

The vacant Side D bugs me more than it probably should, considering that in the case of this release it was wholly unavoidable. But the music on the other three sides of these two records is pretty fantastic – creepy, spacey, melodic, obscure, underground Black Metal. At close to 73 minutes in total, there’s plenty to get your rabid teeth into.

To lazily cut to the chase, let me conclude that, all in all, on this compilation, Cosmic Church serves up an interesting and unhealthy dose of Satanic blackness that is as intriguing and irregular as it is unessential. But essential things are boring, anyway; get this instead.